Reprise—SOLO-International Press Release: What the President Should Say

Submitted by Lindsay Perigo on Sun, 2009-06-21 01:52

SOLO-International Press Release: What the President Should Say

Lindsay Perigo
June 21, 2009

My Fellow-Americans

As I speak to you tonight, there is hope that the most evil regime on the face of this earth is about to collapse.

The theocratic dictatorship that rules the Islamic Republic of Iran is a regime that has actively sought to discredit and destroy America since its inception thirty years ago. It calls America "The Great Satan," routinely calls for "Death to America" and openly despises the freedom and prosperity we take for granted. It seeks nuclear weapons. It seeks the destruction of Israel. It sponsors terrorist organizations. It fomented the insurgency that began after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. It has supplied the wherewithal for the roadside bombs that have killed so many of our soldiers in Iraq. Within its borders, it stones women to death. It arrests and tortures women if their headscarves do not fully cover their hair or their clothes show their figures too clearly. It hangs gays for being gay. It forbids lovers to hold hands in the streets. It brutally suppresses dissent and non-conformity, and enforces adherence to the most savage tenets of its religion.

But the spirit of man, it seems, is indomitable. Even in the face of such barbarism, Iranians, cheated of an honest election result, have spontaneously surged onto the streets, risking their lives for their rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Some, it's true, may be hoping for an even stricter theocracy; we have reason to think, however, the vast majority are young folk yearning to be free.

There are those who don't want me to say this. They say I'll upset the Iranian dictators and provoke a crackdown. They seem not to notice there's a crackdown going on as I speak. I would remind them of the words of one of my greatest predecessors, Ronald Reagan, in a different yet essentially identical context:

"It was C. S. Lewis who, in his unforgettable Screwtape Letters, wrote: 'The greatest evil is not done now in those sordid dens of crime that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.' Well, because these quiet men do not raise their voices, because [our adversaries] sometimes speak in soothing tones of brotherhood and peace, because, like other dictators before them, they're always making their final territorial demand, some would have us accept them at their word and accommodate ourselves to their aggressive impulses. But if history teaches anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom."

My fellow-Americans, I have no intention of appeasing one of the most vile tyrannies in the history of man at this seminal moment when its victims are rising up. I wish the demonstrators every success. They are a poignant reminder of the words of our third President, Thomas Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

In 50 Iranian cities the number of votes cast in this month presidential election exceeded the number of eligible voters, the state's election watchdog admitted today.

The surprising admission by the Guardian Council was, however, designed to undermine the claims of the defeated candidates that the vote was rigged.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main rival in the hotly-disputed election, and the other two losing candidates have claimed that the vote exceeded eligible voters in as many as 170 districts.

Abbasali Kadkhodai, a spokesman for the council of senior clerics, told the state television channel IRIB: "Our investigation shows that the number of districts they announced is not correct. Based on our preliminary report, 50 districts face this issue."...

He also made clear that Mr Ahmadinejad's victory would not be affected even if the results in the 50 disputed districts were reversed as they account for three million votes and the official results show Mr Ahmadinejad won by a margin of 11 million....

... can throw up unlikely heroes with unsavoury backgrounds. Yeltsin comes to mind. Remember that all candidates for election in Iran have to be vetted by the Council of Guardians or whatever it's called. Anyone who came out openly and said "I'm for dumping all this shit" would clearly not get to stand at all. In any event, this thing has clearly gotten way bigger than Mousavi. All the more reason for the American President to make a statement like the one above.

I wish that such a speech could get actually get through to the masses; moreover, I wish there was more courage within the Iranian clerical establishment (those allied with Montazeri, Rafsanjani) to shove out the creepy old fuck at the head of their state

In fact, Iranian state TV overdubbed one of Obama's actual statements with a text in Farsi that explicitly backed the demonstrators. Success of that depends on how skilled Iranians are at seeing through such ploys--something I can't begin to guess at.

As for the last part I quoted--what is needed not to replace one group of clerics with another group, but to get rid of the whole damn lot. Mousavi's statements read like someone who is claiming the mantle of restoring the Islamic Revolution of 1979--not someone who sees the need to get rid of it and its legacy.

"The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government," Mr Obama said. "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion."

TV3 kicked off its 6pm bulletin with a fire in West Auckland (where fires are very much to be encouraged). In disgust I switched to TV1. Same story, with an even more nasal, quacking female. Back to TV3. More parochial trivia, including anti-alcohol finger-waggers. Finally, at 10 past 6, a 60-second report on Iran. Pathetic.

This is a decent stab at the task of crafting an Obama speech -- much better that the previous pieces excoriating him. I have sent it off to Sullivan and the link to some Twitter accounts bound up in the reporting, and will send it off to a few more places as I think of it. I would have added some named Iranian references to balance the US referents: it would make it sound a little less directed to Western ears . . .

I wish that such a speech could get actually get through to the masses; moreover, I wish there was more courage within the Iranian clerical establishment (those allied with Montazeri, Rafsanjani) to shove out the creepy old fuck at the head of their state. Latest scuttlebutt on the intertubes is that Khamenei has made a grave mistake in choosing to put a pillow for Ahamadinejad in his bed. In the last half-day, arrests and detentions of Mousavi's aides and organization have increased, as has the pace of anyone

Iran's recent history is written in tones of martyrdom and sacrifice . . . Mousavi is said to have declared he is ready to be 'martyr.' The next few days look to turn the tide one way or the other.

I hope we would all agree that it is a fateful decision to call for patriot blood to be shed . . . it disgusts me that Khamenei in his 'obey and come to papa' speech implied that responsibility for today's deaths lies with the dissenters [translation here].

If the recent political strategy is a delayed reaction it might not have been a bad idea.... but the current situation is beyond the threshold where the President needs to worry about whether or not this uprising is for real. The opportunity is wide open now, and will be for the next several days. A speech like this would play a role in tipping the balance, and it would clarify the moral place of America in the world. Obama is uniquely talented and positioned to make the decisive move here and I would forgive him for a lot of other things if he would do it. The elimination of the Islamic government of Iran would be the biggest foreign policy coup for the Western world since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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